Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain ||
04/25/2011
13:41 ||
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#1
Exxon got scerwed. Still doesn;t solve the NIMBY problem of no refineries since 1972. 152 blends of gasoline, unbelieveble. USA is being very, very stoopid,
Syria sharply escalated its already deadly campaign to crush a five-week uprising early Monday, sending troops backed by tanks, snipers and knife-wielding security forces into the southern city where the rebellion began. A witness said at least 11 people were killed and others were gravely wounded in the streets.
Dozens of protesters were arrested, witnesses and activists said.
Separately Monday, a White House spokesman said the U.S. is considering targeted sanctions against Syria in light of the violent crackdown.
#2
I'm pretty surprised at the relative moderation of the various Arab dictators. The Chinese government killed thousands in a matter of days. All of the Arab dictatorships added together have killed less people over three months than the Chinese government did at Tiananmen Square. I had thought we'd see reenactments of the crushing of the Hama rebellion pretty much at inception. It looks like the current crop of Arab dictators is nowhere near as ruthless as its forebears. This is why the odds are many of them will fall.
Fox News first caught the blunder and put it into context that makes the omission insulting to Christians. The mistake is odd enough to call into question just what Obamas priorities are.
By comparison, the White House has released statements recognizing the observance of major Muslim holidays and released statements in 2010 on Ramadan, Eid-ul-Fitr, Hajj, and Eid-ul-Adha.
The White House . . . did release an eight-paragraph statement heralding Earth Day. Likewise, the presidents weekend address mentioned neither Good Friday or Easter.
Obama, Fox notes, did head out to church yesterday and held an Easter prayer breakfast at the White House last week.
Obama is on a roll for religious holiday greeting screw ups. Fox News writes:
In 2010, Obama was criticized for releasing an all-inclusive Easter greeting. He reached out to Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and people of no faith at all in a statement about a holiday that is uniquely Christian.
#1
The picture on Drudge of lightening striking the White House Easter evening says it all. BHO is no more a Christian than he is truthful, rather every act, every use of power, feeds his friends, enriches his allies, buys power blocks and beggars the American economy and the country he may have been born in but does not love. More and more I see the veiled motive of revenge and elitist disdain for America and the West, and his determination to be "transformational" but in a destructive way to punish the system he has always plotted and secretly raged against.
#7
Obama's Muslim faith is starting to look like an analog of Kennedy's philandering. Years after his presidency is over the press will admit they knew about it all along, but withheld the information because we voters are too stupid and parochial to handle such grown up matters.
We live in interesting times. According to the Wall Street Journal, there is reason to believe Mr. Assange will be permitted to discover for himself exactly how interesting.
Still, the U.S. can move beyond its current paralysis without criminalizing routine leaks by focusing on Mr. Assange, the self-declared anarchist who created WikiLeaks. His stated goal is to deprive the U.S. government of a smooth flow of information by disclosing its internal communications. "An authoritarian conspiracy that cannot think efficiently," Mr. Assange wrote in an essay in 2006, "cannot act to preserve itself." We'll see.
His former top aide, Daniel Domscheit-Berg, recently wrote a book, "Inside WikiLeaks," describing Mr. Assange's focus on the U.S. as the "only enemy." Mr. Domscheit-Berg writes that when he tried to make WikiLeaks politically neutral instead of anti-American, Mr. Assange accused him in a text message of "disloyalty, insubordination and destabilization in times of crisis." This striking language comes from the Espionage Act of 1917, which makes it a crime for anyone who has "unauthorized possession to information relating to the national defense" and has reason to believe the information "could be used to the injury of the U.S." to "willfully" release it. There may be very good reason this precise language was on Mr. Assange's mind.
The Espionage Act requires willfully endangering the U.S. It may seem unusual to consider intent in the context of how information flows, but without focusing on intent, the law would raise serious First Amendment issues. Many academics and media commentatorsand perhaps overly cautious prosecutorshave missed the point that WikiLeaks is different from the New York Times. It's the political motivation of Mr. Assange that qualifies him to be prosecuted. The publisher is not liable for its reporting.
And the NYT has not been operating as such? Sounds more like the WSJ protecting one of its own along the old comic line "..why don't sharks eat lawyers?".
#4
Espionage is for foreign actors, and we've jugged and strung up them before. Treason is for Americans. A real CIA wouldn't have let it get to this point (and I would approve)
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/25/2011 20:07
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#5
That's right, Julian has been caught wearing the wrong uniform, and you know what that can get you.
#1
I suspect that much of this is wishful thinking on the part of the IMF, and the internationalists that back it. They crave the end of the "single superpower" age and a return to multilateralism, with them in charge of it.
But as with their dreams of a single international currency, which has been tried a few times already, it won't work and will blow up in their face, unless their compatriots can drag the US down so far that internationalism has a chance.
Yet, this fails with the US because their efforts were to drag the US down "on paper", which is a far cry from reality. That is, they think that if they can destroy the dollar, it will be the same as destroying the US.
The whole scheme has FAIL written all over it. First of all, because they are duplicitous rats, they will never trust each other, and always act in their own interest.
Second, paper is just paper, and only works when people think it has power. When they lose faith in it, it just becomes paper again, and people use something else as a token of exchange. If Obama "prints" a million billion trillion dollars, then people will use some other means and Obama will be left out in the cold.
#2
BTW the paper is Fed paper and not US Treasury paper. Fed is a consortium of banks nothing more nor less.
The Treasury could print Treasury Notes again and not care what the Fed Notes were worth.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
04/25/2011 10:37
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#3
single international currency
We pretty much had that at one time. It was known as gold. Unfortunately, there is insufficient precious metal to cover the world economy these days. It becomes a ceiling that would move most of us back into the 19th Century economically which would also entail comparable health, technology stagnation, social stratification, etc that goes along with that.
#4
Gold is just as fiat as paper. It might be harder to expand the gold supply, but not as hard as you think nowadays with new technology and it's major problem is you cannot burn gold like you can fiat paper.
#5
Some economic historians have opined that the level of counterfeiting / unbacked bank notes in the US during the 19th century provided a beneficial boost to its money supply which otherwise would have been constrained by US gold stocks.
#6
Gold is just as fiat as paper. I disagree. Expanding the gold supply is (1) extremely difficult and likely to remain so and (2) economic activity expands and contracts due to factors other than the supply of gold -- this mismatch has always been a problem for gold-backed currencies. As far as I know, there IS NO GOLD BACKED CURRENCY in existence now, there is just gold. There are also other commodities.
Economic activity is based on trust between the two (or more) parties involved. That can't be printed, minted or mined.
#7
Plenty of gold on the asteroid EROS. 5 times a much as exists on Earth (including unmined in the Earth's core).
Posted by: Water Modem ||
04/25/2011 11:08
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#8
Economic activity is based on trust between the two (or more) parties involved.
And a lot of the trust built up over the last 80 years was destroyed as the social model that had reigned over those years disintegrated due to its internal inconsistencies. Over the next 15 years or so, we will cobble together a new contract that will establish a basis for trust that will support the next step forward. Until then, trust will be at a premium.
#9
Sterling was the worlds staple monetery source for 250 years before the dollar. As far as I know the IMF want to trade in packets, just as they give out aid packets to countries in emergency. This would only really be used to trade in big bulks of oil and minerals etc. The world is run by companies otherwise where two trading companies would only have tocoer money once rather then the needless trading into dollar. Its a bright idea. Mcdonalads recently relocated a vast majority of stocks into foreign currencies. China is buying up the world in a bid to save all the dollars it accumulated. Obama isn't helping.
#11
Interesting idea, that of 'packets', devilstoenail. Also used by multinats to avoid payment of taxes, whilst at the same time claiming all the rebates.
#3
With all that sunshine and lack of water, you would think the Arabs would have greenhouses everywhere. Instead they pillage and destroy them even when handed to them on a silver platter.
#4
the Juice left some perfectly good greenhouses behind when they left Gazoo. The Paleos promptly destroyed them. IMHO they deserve what they're gonna get
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/25/2011 9:34
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#8
Permitting BIRTH CONTROL PILLS and other contraception along with SEX ED courses would help the water and hunger danger much more then the current Inshallah methods.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
04/25/2011 11:14
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#9
I'm sure we'll give them a solution so they can grow more jihadis.
#12
Permitting BIRTH CONTROL PILLS and other contraception along with SEX ED courses would help the water and hunger danger much more then the current Inshallah methods.
Birth rates have already fallen significantly in the Arab world, and no doubt will continue to do so. It's going to be very interesting in that part of the world in a generation or so, as the results start to hit home.
heh heh.... Remember Mahmoud, we released four .. no five .. different viruses into your systems...
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/25/2011
07:58 ||
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#1
These are Windows computers?
Posted by: john frum ||
04/25/2011 8:34
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#2
Mahmoud,
Those emails from Nigeria are all scams....
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
04/25/2011 10:06
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#3
John, I do not know this as fact in this case.
But the Siemens computers I am familiar with that are used for process control are very specialized, purpose oriented. They may have PC's as user interfaces, gateways, and higher tier integration, but the ones I have used for similar tasks are high order PLC's with truly excellent programming software. They are not what is usually thought of as PLC's, as they can function quite well in an ordered hierarchy. Given the time-frame of development of these plants, they are the likely controllers.
Examples might be S7-300 and S7-400 controllers, quite powerful and robust little beasts. There are industrial PC's also, but they are not as robust.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
04/25/2011 10:58
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#7
So is somebody committing sabotage from the inside?
Paranoia.
Or did their vendors sell them infected equipment?
In which case they were screwed from the git go. Imagine all that money and all those man hours wasted on a project that never, ever, had the slightest chance for success.
US authorities describe the main Pakistani intelligence service as a terrorist organisation in secret files obtained by the Guardian.
Recommendations to interrogators at Guantanamo Bay rank the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) alongside al-Qaida, Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon as threats. Being linked to any of these groups is an indication of terrorist or insurgent activity, the documents say.
"Through associations with these ... organisations, a detainee may have provided support to al-Qaida or the Taliban, or engaged in hostilities against US or coalition forces [in Afghanistan]," says the document, dated September 2007 and called the Joint Task Force Guantanamo Matrix of Threat Indicators for Enemy Combatants. It adds that links to these groups is evidence that an individual poses a future threat.
The revelation that the ISI is considered as much of a threat as al-Qaida and the Taliban will cause fury in Pakistan. It will further damage the already poor relationship between US intelligence services and their Pakistani counterparts, supposedly key allies in the hunt for Osama bin Laden and other Islamist militants in south Asia.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/25/2011
07:54 ||
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#1
If you want to clean up the ISI, the first thing you do is fire all of General Zia's appointees, then you lock the doors and burn the freaking place to the ground...computers, files, notepads, invisible ink, cell phones, everything. Then you send them all to Sri Lanka...
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
04/25/2011 10:10
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#2
Totally agree Bill.
General Zia is still a hero to the ISI and his Islamist ideology!
Hamid Gul is one of many Zia followers to be anti American/West!
#5
No, no. Lock the doors, burn it down, and *then* fire the Zia appointees. If you fire them first, they'll be at home or in their cars when the building goes up in flames.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
04/25/2011 14:09
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For more than five years, Abu Sufian Ibrahim Ahmed Hamuda bin Qumu was a prisoner at the Guantánamo Bay prison, judged a probable member of Al Qaeda by the analysts there. They concluded in a newly disclosed 2005 assessment that his release would represent a medium to high risk, as he is likely to pose a threat to the U.S., its interests and allies.
Today, Mr. Qumu, 51, is a notable figure in the Libyan rebels fight to oust Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, reportedly a leader of a ragtag band of fighters known as the Darnah Brigade for his birthplace, this shabby port town of 100,000 people in northeast Libya. The former enemy and prisoner of the United States is now an ally of sorts, a remarkable turnabout resulting from shifting American policies rather than any obvious change in Mr. Qumu.
#1
Are the journalists at the NY Times really this stupid? Sure, an Islamist will make nice when you give him weapons and money, but your throat will still be slit open at the first convenient opportunity.
#4
The notorious sponsor of terror attacks Gaddafi shifted to a 'U.S. Ally of Sorts' and that was a tremendous success of diplomacy(tm) wasn't it?
Forgive and forget!
The lives of Western civilians are expendable after all.
/sarc
On a serious note, what is it with western politicians being so eager to forgive and embrace unrepentant mortal enemies.
These are enemies who are willing to attack us again if they regain the ability.
It's the same story with the Taliban, Gaddafi, and now AQ in North Africa. Nuts!
Iran and Iraq on Sunday signed agreements to return each others' detainees, which could lead to the forced repatriation of an Iranian opposition group based in Iraq, Iranian state TV reported.
The countries' respective justice ministers signed agreements that including provisions for the repatriation of each others criminals and convicts to their country of origin, which could include members of the People's Mujahedeen, an Iranian opposition group long based in Iraq. Where they will be killed. That's the apparent plan. Real shame. It might could happen to a nicer bunch of cutthroats but these cutthroats will do.
A Jordanian security official says Syria has sealed the border with Jordan and is preventing people from leaving the country.
The Jordanian border crossing lies close to the southern Syrian town of Daraa, where government forces were launching a sharp crackdown on protesters Monday. Some of the fiercest protests against the Syrian regime have taken place in Daraa. The border closure may aim to prevent Syrian demonstrators and activists from feeling to nearby Jordan.
#1
See also PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM > SYRIA: ARAB VERSION OF "YUGOSLAVIA"?, where the USA doesn't end up smelling like a Rose = Hero no matter what it + NATO, EU + UNSC tried???
It was post-Soviet Russia + China back then under POTUS Billary, now its IRAN + SHIA-VS-SUNNI GEOPOL STRUGGLE in addition to already extant = pre-estalished REGIONAL MUSLIM ANTI-FOREIGNER SENSITIVITIES???
#2
Syria has too many Sunnis (who are a 75% majority). Jordan has too many Palestinians. If Assad can encourage 10m Sunnis to move to Jordan, thereby reducing their Syrian % to 50%, that would partially solve his demographic problem, while also helping to solve Jordan's problem of an excessive % of Palestinians.
Amid heightened concerns that Iraqs democracy is becoming increasingly vulnerable to an array of internal political and economic threats, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki strongly repeated his stance that the remaining 50,000 US troops will be gone from his country by the December, 2011 deadline. Not surprisingly, the main beneficiary of this action appears to be, once again, the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Despite the conflagration of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s and Iranian efforts to incite horrific sectarian violence in Iraq after the 2003 US invasion, Irans ties to Iraq have actually grown increasingly closer as the US presence diminishes. To wit, through a series of economic agreements, Iran is now Iraqs largest trading partner. Iran has also created politically influential ties with Baghdads government through Shiite proxies such as al-Sadr and the Iraqi Shiite coalition.
Some are very concerned with Irans role in this drama. As Iraqi political advisor Wrya Saeed Rwandzi warned, Iran is openly fighting the secular democratic forces in the entire region. They are more dangerous than al-Qaida. In fact, he went on to say, Obama is doing nothing. The U.S. has no clear policy, and is sending contradictory messages.
Spot silver surged more than 5 percent to above $49 ounce on Monday, buoyed by a weak dollar and strong physical demand in Asia that also propelled gold to a record high for a seventh consecutive session.
Spot silver hit a 31-year high of $49.31 an ounce, before easing to $49.16 by 0854 GMT. The level was 17 cents off a 1980 record high, according to Reuters data. It was heading for its biggest daily gain in five months. "Everyone is buying," said a Hong Kong-based dealer. "There is stop-loss buying, as well as a good buying interest from China."
The dollar index languished around a three-year low on Monday, with investors expecting further weakness on concerns about the size of the U.S. budget deficit and the expectation that interest rates in the world's largest economy would remain low.
Spot gold hit a record high of $1,518.10 an ounce, before easing to $1,517.80, up nearly 1 percent. U.S. silver futures jumped 8.2 percent to $49.82 an ounce in unusually large trading volume, just about 50 cents off its all-time peak of $50.35 hit on January 18, 1980. When those evil (per 60 Minutes) Hunt brothers tried to corner the silver market.
The contract eased to $49.17 an ounce on Monday.
So, have 50% of Gitmo releasees been confirmed to have returned to jihad yet? The other 50% waiting for confirmation.
Italy Wednesday deported a Tunisian former inmate at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo bay, accusing him of being part of an extremist cell.
Italian authorities accompanied Adel Ben Mabrouk back to Tunisia by plane, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
Mabrouk, who returned to Italy in November 2009 after a period of detention in Guantanamo bay, was part of a militant group based in Milan, the ministry said.
Italian intelligence broke up the group after foiling a number of its plans, including a plot that it uncovered in 2009 to use a car full of explosives to blow up Milan's cathedral, the ministry said.
Mr. Ben Mabrouk has been busy. Clearly the vacation in Cuba did him good.
#1
Have Rantburgers seen this video? I just saw it today, it's long: 1 hour 30. But very distressing.
These tactics are used today for those who would protect the rights of the individual against Government. Infiltrating protests. Abusing the legal system to make political opponents look like criminals.
It happens in the third world, Kenyan police called human-rights activist Oscar Kamau's protest a "mungiki" protest right before shooting him and his partner. He had helped expose Kenyan police extrajudicial killings and the UN special rapporteur had delivered a scathing report days before.
Now here in Australia and in the US it isn't that crude. They don't shoot people in the centre of the city in broad daylight like Kenyan cops do.
Here they put "form" on you and cause hassles...
With the imminent collapse of the US dollar thanks to excess moneyprinting they may be expecting civil unrest.
Please, stay safe over there, those of you who love liberty and freedom.
#2
Generally this is the sort of meme pushed by the same people who push the "9/11 was an inside job by the nazi-analogue US government" meme, and other similar things.
#3
In short, it's been pushed by those who hope to push the US to Civil War for their own fun and profit. They've already won in the middle east, more or less, by pushing the US to the brink of civil war.
#4
FEMA camps came into being to a great extent because of Katrina, and projected other disasters like the Big One in California, or another New Madrid quake near the Mississippi. Or even particularly devastating hurricanes or even a really bad volcanic eruption.
That is, the US had a need for regional, high density, emergency evacuation facilities. Federal EMERGENCY Management Agency.
This is because after Katrina, there was a huge and disorderly flight from Louisiana, mostly into Texas. And while the Texans tried to be helpful, they were just not equipped to handle so many people for so long.
FEMA camps have to be institutional, and designed to keep a huge number of people housed, fed, clothed and given health care and schooling for children, while trying to figure out where they can go.
But why keep it low key? Because they store a heck of a lot of emergency supplies there, but with only a small maintenance staff to keep it orderly. If they became well known, vandals and looters would quickly destroy the place.
#5
Hello anon1. In the event of a national emergency of the scale like WW11 you would have to have some plan to deal with the unexpected. I would hope and do expect planning of this sort must be considered. I have a poor opinion of the general population should a crisis occur. We don't have the strong family units anymore. We don't have the religious faith anymore to extent we once had.
Some errors in Judgment will occur. When people are fearful or distressed logic and common sense goes out the window. When emotion rules then people can behave in mass quite unpredictably(remember the riots in this country). That is why camps, foodstuffs, barbed wire, security, housing, energy, medical are needed to protect those inside as well as from the outside. I always use the old scout motto "be prepared". Yes, a triage would be necessary depending on the event. This would have to be preplanned and uniformly dispersed for uniformity.
Yes, police, national guard, medical centers would be coupled with this effort. This is thinking optimistically. Cool heads must prevail.
#7
Anonymoose, I live in the DFW area and had to travel around the counties during the time of the Katrina refugees. Lousiana may have muffed it but I'm proud to say I never saw or heard of problems with the way our state and local govts handled the problem. It was after the emergency that we had huge problem with crime done by the Louisiana refugees.
#8
Thing, Anonymoose and Dale all make sense. I understand perfectly the points they are making. But when push came to shove I'd have to agree with Bigim-CA. Just think how you would feel when they were marching you through that gate.
#9
What we should have done is saved several large military bases for this purpose. Ft. Ord, California, for example. Schools, shopping, housing, hospitals and clinics, airfield, rail sidings, everything that would be needed to quickly house thousands of people displaced by a natural emergency along with a large amount of land on which to build hasty shelter for thousands more.
In other words, we already had these FEMA camps pretty much already built but we threw them away.
#11
Hey Big Jim hows that new job. I did some paddling myself. Thirty years later I'm top heavy and pulling muscles. I did get my son and grandsons started however. We have allot of whitewater most of the time here. I always preferred going up stream. I understand your wanting to be on the outside of a camp. The main cities now have warlords in my opinion so anarchy will just wear you down.
#12
The Choice of title for this post is patently ridiculous. Mind you, Americans are gunners, first and foremost. FEMA would stand for Federals Executed by Mean Americans.
Posted by: Fi ||
04/25/2011 23:16
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#3
ION RELATED > NEWSMAX = WIKILEAKS: AL QAEDA ALREADY HAS NUCLEAR CAPACITY.
ARTIC = DESPITE IST EFFORTS, US FEARS THAT AQ HAS SUCCEEDED IN PURCHASING URANIUM NUCMATS FOR A NUCBOMB [one or more?]; Senior AQ Leader claims that a NucBomb is already hidden somewhere in Europe, + will be detonated iff Osama is ever captured or assassinated.
Other - AQ also had a ChemWar schema to release DEADLY CYANIDE into public Air-Conditioning Units/Systems in mass attack.
Again, there is NO CONSENSUS on how many Cold War-era NucBombs, Nucmats, WMDS or other MilTechs AQ + Radical Islam had illegally procured ala POST-SOVIET BLACK MARKETS [NGOS] ANDOR MUSLIM, EX-SOVIET ETC. STATE SPONSORS [e.g. DPRK, Pakistan]. THE CLOCK TICKY-TOCK IS NOT IN THE US-ALLIES OR UNO'S FAVOR AS PER ANTI-NUC PROLIFERATION To "ROGUE" STATES + ULTIMATELY MILTERR GROUPS.
Moved to Opinion because 2020 hasn't happened yet for those of us travelling forward through time.
tw at 5:29 a.m. ET
Federal Reserve Chairman Nancy Pelosi announces Quantitative Easing #56; "Ben would have wanted it this way," she declared with teary eyes
Chinese consumers complain about atrocious manners and lack of basic Mandarin grammar at U.S. call centers
EU Chairman Muhammed ibn-Sultan calls in NATO troops to quell rebellion of Christians in northern England
UN Security Council condemns Israel for not undertaking any military operations for over three months, "which is evidence of secret preparations to conquer the Arab countries"
Gold hits $1 million per ounce, still holding at price of a good men's suit
Reading comprehension removed from elementary school curricula following outbreak of "passive-aggressive pre-hormonal self-esteem disruption syndrome"
#3
"Gold hits $1 million per ounce, still holding at price of a good men's suit"
Actually there is truth to this. At the beginning of the 20th century one ounce of gold would get you the best suit that money could buy; that the beginning the the 21st century one ounce of gold will get you the best suit that money could buy.
Posted by: kelly ||
04/25/2011 18:36
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More than 470 inmates at an Afghan jail have escaped through a tunnel hundreds of metres long. Officials at the jail in Kandahar city said the tunnel had been dug from the outside and many of those who escaped were Taliban insurgents. The Kandahar provincial governor's office said some escapees had since been recaptured but gave no details. A spokesman for the Taliban said it had dug the 320m (1,050ft) tunnel and that it had taken five months to construct. Zabiullah Mujahid said about 100 of those who escaped were Taliban commanders, and most of the others were fighters with the insurgency.
"A tunnel hundreds of metres long was dug from the south of the prison into the prison and 476 political prisoners escaped last night," said prison director General Ghulam Dastageer Mayar.
The jailbreak is the second major escape from the prison in three years. In June 2008, a suicide bomber blew open the Kandahar prison gates and destroyed a nearby checkpoint, freeing about 900 prisoners, many of them suspected insurgents.
#1
ISAF was reported to have learned about the event via a Taliban new release. How thoughtful of the host nation to keep us informed on events taking place in "The Good War."
#3
Headcount come up a bit short last evening at the DFAC General Ghulam Dastageer Mayar? Please be sure to inventory the pick and shovel locker. Those damn tools are expensive, even though they are made in China. Nicely done you murdering bastids.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
04/25/2011 10:53
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#7
the tunnel had been dug from the outside
Tunneled in, not tunneled out. But somehow those on the inside had gotten copies to all the keys to their comrades' cells in the meantime. Electronic tags, fingerprints, DNA on file -- possible if it's a DoD prison, but the Afghans are still working at the kind of basic level that allows for tunnelling up through the floor. I can't imagine that a modern American prison would be so poorly constructed, even in a far-off land.
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Libyan rebels accused Muammar Qadaffy of playing dirty games in Misrata where salvos of Grad rockets went kaboom! today in apparent contradiction of his regime's vow to halt fire in the western city.
In a Misrata hospital, meanwhile, two captured pro-Qadaffy soldiers told AFP that loyalist forces were losing their grip in the battle for the western port, and that their morale was sinking.
"Many soldiers want to surrender but they are afraid of being executed by the rebels," said Lili Mohammed, a Mauritanian mercenary hired by the Qadaffy regime to fight snuffies in the country's third city.
"Qadaffy forces are losing" in Misrata, said Misbah Mansuri, 25, another maimed loyalist fighter who said he was forcibly enlisted 45 days ago.
Both Mohammed and Mansuri spoke to AFP separately from their hospital rooms in the presence of a doctor, saying officers had abandoned the troops and their supply lines were cut.
Peaceful solution
Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim said early on Sunday the army had suspended operations against rebels in Misrata, but not left the city, to enable local tribes to find a peaceful solution.
"The armed forces have not withdrawn from Misrata. They have simply suspended their operations," he told a news conference in Tripoli.
"The tribes are determined to solve the problem within 48 hours... We believe that this battle will be settled peacefully and not militarily."
But Colonel Omar Bani, the military front man of the rebels' Transitional National Council, said Qadaffy was "playing a really dirty game" aimed at dividing his opponents.
"It is a trick, they didn't go," Bani said in the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi. "They have stayed a bit out of Tripoli Street but they are preparing themselves to attack again."
Kaim had previously announced the army would withdraw from Misrata and leave local tribes to resolve the conflict there, either by talks or through force.
But later on Sunday bursts of automatic weapons fire could be heard and Grad rockets went kaboom! in the city, the scene of deadly urban guerrilla fighting for weeks between rebels and Qadaffy loyalists.
Six people were killed and 34 maimed in Sunday's fighting, said Doctor Khalid Abu Falra at Misrata's main private clinic.
Misrata suffered its heaviest toll in 65 days of fighting on Saturday, with 28 dead and 100 maimed compared with a daily average of 11 killed, according to Falra.
NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... warplanes staged raids on civil and military sites in Tripoli and other cities, JANA news agency said, without giving casualty numbers. Earlier raids by the alliance struck near a compound in the capital where Qadaffy resides.
Three kabooms rocked Tripoli late Saturday as NATO warplanes overflew the capital, AFP journalists said, after several earlier blasts in the city centre and outlying districts.
On Sunday, US Senator John Maverick McCain ... the Senator-for-Life from Arizona, former presidential candidate and even more former foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution... , who visited the rebel stronghold of Benghazi last week, urged Washington to increase its air strikes on Libya, warning a prolonged stalemate would likely draw al-Qaeda into the conflict.
"The longer we delay, the more likely it is there is a stalemate. And if you're worried about al-Qaeda entering into this fight, nothing would bring al-Qaeda in more rapidly and more dangerously than a stalemate," McCain told NBC's "Meet the Press."
Qadaffy's regime accused the United States, which has launched its first Predator drone strike on a rocket launcher targeting Misrata, of "new crimes against humanity" for deploying the low-flying, unmanned aircraft.
In his traditional Easter message on Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI called for "diplomacy and dialogue" in Libya.
"In the current conflict in Libya, may diplomacy and dialogue take the place of arms and may those who suffer as a result of the conflict be given access to humanitarian aid," the pope said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2011
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#1
So NATO is going to bomb the sh*t out of civilians in Tripoli in order to make Qadaffy to stop shelling civilians in Misrata. But does he care?
#2
Excuse me... but... I was under the impression that all dictators have a membership in the "Dirty Tricks Club"... along with a lot of smelly elected leaders.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
04/25/2011 10:59
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[Emirates 24/7] Secret police raided homes near Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... overnight, rights campaigners said on Sunday, as popular opposition to authoritarian President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... mounted following the bloodiest attacks on pro-democracy protesters.
Security forces and gunnies loyal to Assad killed at least 112 people in the last two days when they fired at protests demanding political freedoms and an end to corruption on Friday and on mass funerals for victims a day later.
The attacks were the bloodiest, and the demonstrations were the biggest, since protests erupted in the southern city of Deraa in the strategic Hauran plain near the border with Jordan over five weeks ago.
"Bashir al-Assad, you traitor! You coward. Take your soldiers to the Golan," protesters chanted on Saturday, chiding Assad for turning his forces on his own people instead of liberating the Golan Heights, where the frontier with Israel has been quiet since a 1974 ceasefire.
Security operatives in plain clothes wielding assault rifles broke into homes in the suburb of Harasta just after midnight on Sunday, arresting activists in the area, known as the Ghouta, or the old garden district of the capital.
Assad lifted an emergency law this week, in place since his Baath Party seized power 48 years ago, in a bid to appease protesters and ease international criticism of the use of deadly force against civilians.
Opponents say the crackdown on demonstrators and the arrests that followed show the move was hollow.
GRISLY VIDEO
Assad has ejected most foreign media from the country during his crackdown on protesters, so independent reports of the violence are difficult to verify.
Demonstrators have been using the Internet to get out pictures of the violence, many of which have been explicit.
One video posted on Internet site YouTube showed a crowd marching on Friday near Abbasside square in Damascus, purportedly on Friday, chanting "the people want the overthrow of the regime," before the sound of gunfire was heard.
Demonstrators raised their hands to show that they were unarmed. The fire intensified. One youth fell, with blood spurting from his head and back. His comrades lifted him but dropped his body when the sound of bullets resumed.
In Abada village, 10 kilometres from Damascus, rights campaigners said security forces were preventing people injured in Friday's protests from reaching hospital. A holy man in contact with the town of Nawa near Deraa said residents told him security forces had fired indiscriminately.
Aided by his family and a pervasive security apparatus, Assad, 45, has absolute power, having ignored demands to transform the anachronistic autocratic system he inherited when he succeeded his late father, president Hafez al-Assad, in 2000.
In a move unthinkable in Syria just five weeks ago, two politicians from Deraa in Syria's' rubberstamp parliament resigned on Saturday to protest against the killings of protesters.
The weekend protests stretched from the port city of Latakia to Homs, Hama, Damascus, its suburbs and southern towns. The corpse count rose to around 350, with scores of missing, since the demonstrations broke out on March 18, rights campaigners said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
His dadda knew that if you kill a few thousand people in one day, you end the rebellion. But if you kill a few dozen people per day for weeks, you just fan the flame of rebellion.
[Emirates 24/7] Yemeni rustics have kidnapped a Saudi diplomat in the capital Sanaa in an apparent bid to settle a trade dispute involving a Saudi businessman, a tribal source said on Sunday.
Saeed al-Maliki, a Second Secretary at the Saudi embassy, was kidnapped on Saturday by a member of the Beni Dhabian tribe which took him to a mountain area 80 kilometres (50 miles) southeast of Sanaa, the source said.
In exchange for the diplomat's release, his captor has demanded five million Saudi riyals ($1.3 million) said to be owed to him by an unidentified Saudi businessman, the source added.
Foreigners have frequently been kidnapped in Yemen by tribes who use the tactic to pressure authorities into making concessions.
More than 200 foreigners have been kidnapped over the past 15 years, and most have later been freed unharmed.
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[Iran Press TV] Thousands of Tunisians have held demonstrations in the capital Tunis, calling for the ouster of the country's interim government.
Protesters erupted into the streets on Sunday and demanded the resignation of interim Prime Minister Beji Caid Essebsi, reiterating that the new governing team should be completely swept from the old guard.
Tunisian Court of Appeal on Friday approved the verdict of an initial court regarding the dissolution of the Constitutional Democratic Rally Party (RCD), which was established by former President of Tunisia Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 1988.
The court has also barred all members of the party from running in the country's upcoming election that chooses a national assembly tasked with rewriting the constitution.
Protests against Essebsi were sparked after he said the exclusion of Ben Ali's supporters from July 24 poll could trigger instability in the country. RCD claims to have the support of nearly two million people out of the country's population of 10 million.
Protesters also called for the prosecution of Ben Ali who decamped to Soddy Arabia shortly after his ouster.
According to the justice ministry, prosecutors in Tunisia want to sue the ousted president on 18 charges, including murder and drug-trafficking. The move also includes legal cases against his family and some of his cronies.
The ministry of justice has also said that Interpol has been asked to freeze the assets of Ben Ali and his family.
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[Ennahar] NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... conducted Friday night raids on the region of Zentena, south-west of Tripoli, where festivities are increasing with the rebels who hold several localities in the region, according to Libyan Jana news Agency which reported two dead and three maimed.
"The civilian sites in the region of Zentena were targets of raids tonight by colonialist aggressor (NATO) which resulted in the deaths of two people," Jana reported, citing also three maimed.
The agency which quoted a military source did not specify the nature of the targets in this area about 150 km southwest of Tripoli.
For several days, residents reported an upsurge in fighting with forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffy ... a proud Arab institution for 42 years ... , stationed in the plain, cutting communications between the towns of this mountainous area that has risen at the beginning of the movement protest against the regime.
The area stretches over 150 km to Yefren east and Nalout west, near the Tunisian border where the Libyan rebels took Thursday morning a leading Libyan border between Libya and Tunisia.
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[Chosun Ilbo] A Korean container ship beat feet hijacking by Somalian pirates in waters 740 km off Somalia on Thursday. The pirates attacked the 75,000-ton Hanjin Tianjin at 5 a.m. but all 20 crew, including 14 Koreans, locked themselves in a special room known as a "citadel" that had been newly built to protect them in just such a situation.
A Foreign Ministry official said around 7:30 p.m., about 14 hours after the pirates attacked the Hanjin Tianjin which was heading for Singapore, commandoes of the Cheonghae Unit's destroyer Choi Young boarded the container ship and found all crew hiding safely in the citadel.
A search of all 72 compartments of the 304 m by 40 m ship produced three AK rifle bullets that presumably belonged to the pirates. Commandoes also discovered pirates' footprints on the bridge of the ship. One of the bullets was found in front of the door to the citadel.
The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs received a distress signal from the ship at 5:15 a.m. and at 7 a.m. ordered the Choi Young, which was about 540 km away, to head for the Hanjin Tianjin.
At 8 a.m., the ministry confirmed from a Turkish warship in nearby waters that no pirate ship was to be seen near the Hanjin Tianjin. But it sent a Lynx helicopter to the area first to see if pirates were hiding aboard the freighter.
The attempted hijacking comes three months after the Korean freighter Samho Jewelry was hijacked by a group of Somali pirates in January. The government on Thursday debated launching a military rescue operation just like the operation that rescued the Samho Jewelry crew.
The Hanjin Tianjin was escorted by the Choi Young to safe waters and is now heading to its original destination.
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[Iran Press TV] The Leader of the Islamic theocracy has advised Iranian media to refrain from suggesting there is tension in the country's peaceful atmosphere.
The media should not report in a way that, contrary to the society's current situation, suggests tension and dispute in the country, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said in a meeting with Iran's Interior Minister the sinister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar Interior minister of Iran and a former defense minister of Iran. He is a veteran of the Revolutionary Guards since the establishment of the body in 1980...
and a group of police commanders on Sunday.
On Saturday, the Leader urged the Medes and the Persians and officials to "not let disputes and divides appear, and the enemy [to succeed in] its propaganda and political malice."
"Unfortunately the approach taken by some newspapers with regards to these remarks was suggestive of divide and dispute in the country instead of peace," the Leader said on Sunday.
Ayatollah Khamenei expressed gratitude for the efforts of Iranian coppers, and said one of the most important duties of the security forces was creating "psychological and moral security" in society.
In the meeting Police Chief Esmail Ahmadi-Moqaddam presented a report about the activities of the security forces.
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[Ennahar] Terrorist organizations affiliated to Al Qaeda advise Libyan gun-hung tough guys Libyan to stockpile weapons in preparation for the post-Qadaffy phase, saying the war in Libya is expected to continue even after the fall of the current regime
Six terrorist groups affiliated to Al Qaeda called on gun-hung tough guys who want to create an Islamic emirate in Libya to take steps and be ready for after Qadaffy, adding that the next enemy will be the pro-Western Libyan opposition.
The terrorist organizations warn against the policy of Westerners who are beginning to prepare for the post-Qadhafi. For this, the gun-hung tough guys also have to prepare now for another war by storing the weapons which they should not give back after the fall of the regime of Qadaffy.
These six terrorist organizations invite the gun-hung tough guys to search Libyan people with knowledge and skills in the military, recruit and protect them for the coming phase.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2011
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#1
"After Qaddafy ... the next enemy will be the pro-Wesetrn Libyan opposition" > Well, can't damn Al-Qaeda for its honesty.
* MEMRI.ORG > SHARIAH4AMERICA.COM: ADVOCATING AN AMERICAN ISLAMIC STATE + SHARIA LAW IN THE US.
ARTIC = denotes that Website calls on US MUSLIMS TO PRIORITIZE SHARIA + LAWS OF ALLAH, + NOT OBEY THE US CONSTITUTION = THE "LAW OF THE LAND" [+ Other].
The South Korean military has deployed new Korean-made multiple rocket launchers on northwestern islands to guard against shelling or a surprise landing by North Korea.
"We've recently deployed the powerful Kooryong multiple rocket launchers on Baeknyeong and Yeonpyeong islands for the first time to respond to provocations from the North," a government source said Sunday.
Right after the North's artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island in November, the military temporarily deployed an American-made multiple launch rocket system on the island, but it was withdrawn in late December.
The Kooryong is a 130 mm 36-round truck-mounted multiple rocket launcher with a range of 23 to 36 km, significantly more powerful than the 122 mm device the North Korean military used in shelling Yeonpyeong. About a dozen Kooryongs were deployed on the islands.
The military will hand the Kooryongs on the islands, which are currently under the Army's supervision, over to the Marine Corps.
"The permanent deployment of the multiple rocket launchers on the northwesternmost islands is a symbolic measure to show we're willing to use formidable firepower to punish the North in case of further provocations," a military source said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/25/2011
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#1
ION GLOBAL TIMES.CN > [US-ROK] DRILLS WILL LEAD TO WAR, NORTH KOREA WARNS.
ARTIC = the DPRK claims the US-ROK Drills includes practice for ANTI-DPRK PREEMPTIVE MILSTRIKES INCLUDING NUCLEAR ATTACKS = NUC "FIRST-STRIKE(S)"???
* PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM > US DRONES MIGRATE TOWARDS CHINA, as per USDOD intent to base in Libya + Taiwan, + ultimately in South Korea + Okinawa, Japan.
ARTIC = USDOD is budgeted US$5.0Bilyuhn for a Global-ranging UAV force of 33 Predators + 33 Reapers. DONES WILL CLOSELY MONITO NORTH KOREA NUCPROGS + CHINESE COASTLINES, LITTORALS FOR PLA ACTIVITIES.
* SAME > CHINA: TWO MORE AIRCRAFT CARRIERS?, as planned + to be contructed, commissioned by CMC + PLAN after the "Shileng"; + SHIFTS IN [US-China] NAVAL BALANCES IN PACIFIC.
* DAILY TIMES.PK > CHINA TO LAUNCH CARRIER [Ex-VARYAG = PLAN "SHILENG"] IN 2011: TAIWAN SPY CHIEF [NSB Chief Tsai Teh-sheng].
[Iran Press TV] With gas prices climbing and little relief in sight, U.S. President Barack B.O. Obama is scrambling to get ahead of the latest potential obstacle to his re-election bid, even as Republicans are making plans to exploit the issue.
No one seems more aware of the electoral peril than Obama himself.
"My poll numbers go up and down depending on the latest crisis, and right now gas prices are weighing heavily on people," he told Democratic donors in Los Angeles this past week.
In fact, Obama raised the issue unsolicited in a series of town meetings in Virginia, Caliphornia and Nevada that were ostensibly about his deficit-reduction plan. And he made the gas spike the subject of his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday.
As Obama well knows, Americans love their cars and remain heavily dependent on them, and they don't hesitate to punish politicians when the cost of filling their tanks goes through the roof. Indeed, for presidents, responding to sudden surges is a recurring frustration.
"These gas prices are killing you right now," Obama said at Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, acknowledging that many Americans can't afford new fuel-efficient cars and must drive older models. For some, he said, the cost of a fill-up has all but erased the benefit of the payroll tax holiday that he and congressional Republicans agreed on last December.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2011
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#1
Every time Zero "laments" the rising price of gas, someone should replay the campaign clips where he promised that exactly.
#3
As per GUAMPDN FORUMS = a Gas Station in FLORIDA is already selling Regular gas for UNDER SIX DOLLARS A GALLON, believed to be the highest in CONUS at this time.
#7
In 2008 it was speculators who, when choked off of funds by the banking collapse saw their game ended, ran up the price. Today, its because the Inner Party has created billions of 'new' dollars to intentionally inflate the monetary unit to cover the junk paper those banks and other institutions are holding on way overpriced property. Rather than see their part pay the price for gambling losses, they're sticking it to everyone else. That's reflected in too many dollars [in many people's hands ie China et al] chancing a basic commodity of modern civilization.
No sympathy for 'no drill' Obama who can't comprehend that if you flood the market with available oil, you keep the price down even in the face of inflationary pressures. All the promises of 'fairy tale' alternate energies doesn't run the car or power generators today.
#8
Fuel Taxes Must Rise, Harvard Researchers Say To meet the Obama administrations targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, some researchers say, Americans may have to experience a sobering reality: gas at $7 a gallon.
To reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the transportation sector 14 percent from 2005 levels by 2020, the cost of driving would simply have to increase, according to a report released Thursday by researchers at Harvards Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. The research also appears in the March edition of the journal Energy Policy.
The 14 percent target was set in the Environmental Protection Agencys budget for fiscal 2010.
#9
Worth repeating: The 14 percent target was set in the Environmental Protection Agency's budget for fiscal 2010.
Even though Cap and Trade failed in the Senate, Obama is going to implement it by bureaucratic regulations. Expect electricity rates to double or triple, depending on your local fuel source.
#11
When you print dollars, for whatever reason, it will tend to raise the price of oil. When you print a lot of dollars the price of oil goes up a lot. If you printed the dollars to bail out irresponsible bankers, there's a relationship to the price of oil.
The only possible oil speculators are the Sauds. They're the only ones with a place to store all the oil they don't take to market. Every other potential speculator has a storage problem.
#12
phil_b: really? Nothing at all? Not even a teeny tiny bit?
Globally, oil is traded in USD. It follows that the lower the value of the dollar, the more of them it takes to buy a barrel of oil. Might look like this:
The economy is in the shitter. Yet: oil is up. gold is up. Commodities are up. The Dow is up. Either the Empire State Building rising to meet the sky, or we are in the elevator on the way down. Which is more plausible?
#15
Every other potential speculator has a storage problem. Due to the Bernank, everyone who has savings or retirement plans denominated in dollars, has debts denominated in dollars, or who does business in dollars, has therefore become a speculator.
#16
Going after oil speculators seemss to me to be crap since real oil is purchased on the spot market.
Are the spot markets that heavily swayed by the speculative market? I wouldn't think OPEC or our own oil production would be part of that, but I don't know.
But if you absolutely, positively have to remove speculators from the market, just enforce a rule that says that if you speculatively trade oil, you have to have a place to store that oil.
#18
The true cost of a barrel of oil also must include a big chunk of our defense budget. If the US were not so dependent on jihadi oil, our response to the Jihad would be very different than it has so far been, the entire WOT would most likely have been cheaper and over with by now.
[The Nation (Nairobi)] Three suspected cut-throats tossed in the clink in the border town of Liboi have been handed over to the anti-terrorism police unit in Nairobi.
Police in North Eastern Province tossed in the clink the trio, a Sudanese national and two Kenyans, with bomb-making materials, including powder, matches and assorted wires, along the Kenya-Somali border.
Provincial police boss Leo Nyongesa said the three had been flown to Nairobi for further interrogation.
Officers are trying to establish whether the suspects are linked to the Somali-based Al-Shabaab militia.
Check their cell phones and laptops. No doubt the FBI would be happy to lend a hand. They've developed a certain amount of expertise over the last decade...
Police believe the recovered items were ingredients for the making of a bomb, which could be used in terror attacks in Kenya.
Al-Shabaab, which has been fighting for control of the lawless neighbouring country with the internationally-backed Transitional Federal Government forces, had threatened to strike targets in Kenya during Easter.
Following these threats, Kenyan security forces have been on high alert and have asked wananchi to be vigilant and report any suspicious characters during the Easter festivities.
Police commissioner Mathew Iteere particularly advised Kenyans to be on the lookout in crowded places including shopping malls, entertainment spots and other areas where people are likely to converge as they enjoy the holiday.
In Nairobi, coppers have been guarding public places and travellers are being screened more thoroughly before boarding buses to various destinations.
Mr Nyongesa said a contingent of officers from all security forces in the country had been deployed to the mostly non-existent border to ensure Al-Shabaab gun-hung tough guys did not enter Kenya.
"We are carrying out a joint operation of all security forces, including the military, to ensure Kenya is free from terrorists."
The arrest of the trio was an important development in containing the al Shabaab threat, with the militia reportedly unhappy with Kenya's training of Somali police on its territory and attacks on the militia along the border with Kenya.
Al-Shabaab has visited terror in the East African region in the past, including a blast that killed 70 soccer fans in Kampala as they watched the World Cup finals and another that claimed two lives at the Kampala Coach terminus in Nairobi.
Although the police have disputed reports of Kenyan youths being recruited into the terror group, should detectives link the two Kenyans to the militia, it would present evidence of Kenyans being involved in the radical Islamist group.
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A total of 25 individuals were murdered in drug and gang related violence in northern Mexico including four Torreon, Coahuila police officers kidnapped then executed. For a map, click here.
Five unidentified men were shot to death in Chihuahua, Chihuahua Friday afternoon. Reports say armed suspects travelling aboard two SUVs fired on the victims, hunting them down one by one. Victims were found near the corner of calles Rio Colorado and Rio Rhin, on Calle Rio Rhin and on Calle Rio Danubio.
A man and his mother was shot death in Juarez Friday night. Manuel Gonzalez and his mother Jovita Mendoza were attacked by armed suspects at their residence near the intersection of calles Valle de Santiago and Valle del Sol in the San Lorenzo colony. Reports say Manuel was not the target of the murder, but his unidentified brothers were.
An unidentified woman was found shot to death in Chihuahua, Chihuahua late Friday night. The victim was inside a residence near the intersection of calles Columbia and Mirador in the Residencial Campestre II colony.
An unidentified man was shot to death in Juarez Saturday. The victim, who was a street vendor, was shot by a lone armed suspect near the corner of calles Matilde Romero and Esperanza Diaz in the Independencia II colony.
A man was shot to death in Imuris, Sonora Saturday. Jesus Ricardo Martinez Beltran, 47, was found at El Calin tire shop near the intersection of calles Hector Lizärraga and VÃa Flek in the Pueblo Nuevo colony with a single gunshot wound to the head.
A man was shot and wounded in Mexicali, Baja California Friday night. Rodolfo Arballo Sauceda, 32, was shot in the groin on Calle Guanajuato Revolution in the Revolucion colony.
Two men and a woman were shot to death in Torreon, Coahuila Friday aftenoon. Raul Bravo Alvarado, 39 , was walking along Bulevar Independencia with his unidentified companions when armed suspects travelling aboard a multi vehicle convoy shot them. Two AK-47 and 16 AR-15 sent shell casings were found at the scene.
A Durango state police agent and his brother were shot to death in Durnago, Durango Saturday. Edgar Osmani Ramos Campos and his brother, Jesus Luna Melendez were stopped at a convenience store in the Villas del Guadiana III colony when armed suspects travelling aboard a three vehicle convoy shot and killed them. Reports say Luna Melendez attempted to return fire but his pistol jammed.
Four Torreon, Coahuila police officers were kidnapped and murdered Friday, Guadalupe Pizaña Cardiel, 25, Luis Esquivel Limones, 19, Cristian Jonathan Gallegos Hernandez, 22 and Carlos Benjamin Morales Reyes, 23, were abducted as they were leaving work Friday evening. The four were found a short time later, and at different times between the city limits of Torreon and the twin city of Gomez Palacio, Durango, hands bound and with a single gunshot wound to the head.
Two men were found dismembered in Durango, Durango last Tuesday. Fernando RodrÃguez RodrÃguez, 25 and Hugo Francisco Aguilar Salas, 23, were found at the intersection of bulevares Primo de Verdad and Durango. Reports say the two were drug dealers.
[Ennahar] The son of Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffy ... a proud Arab institution for 42 years ... , Hannibal, planned to blow up the Geneva airport and major infrastructures in Switzerland by using an Algerian bartender working in recreation centres for high Personality in Tripoli, to carry the mission. The attacks were then to be attributed to the Al Qaeda organization.
The security services have jugged an Algerian who decamped to Algeria, after providing important information to the Consulate of La Belle France in Annaba.
The indictment of Algiers court transferred the one of the most serious cases related to espionage, to the criminal court. This will probably be scheduled towards the end of the current criminal session.
The principal defendant in this case, the so-called "Iskander" reportedly said that the son of Libyan leader Qadaffy, Hannibal, had charged him of a secret mission in Switzerland, England and La Belle France, which consists of committing attacks in Geneva International Airport and in major economic infrastructure that would subsequently be awarded to the organization of Al Qaeda, this would have led him, according to his saying, to flee to Algeria March 7, 2010 through Debdab where he informed the Algerian authorities of all he had experienced in Libya for fear of being accused of spying.
In Annaba, he headed towards the consulate of La Belle France where he asked for the number of the Swiss Embassy to inform them of what had happened to the so-called "Kamel Mortada." He was then held inside the embassy for 20 days and questioned about Hannibal Qadaffy.
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[Emirates 24/7] Fresh festivities erupted between armed rustics and Republican Guard forces in Yemen's southern province of Lahij on Sunday, killing five people, four of them soldiers, police said.
The renewed fighting erupted in the same area where eight people, six rustics and two soldiers, were killed three days ago, police said.
"Four soldiers and a primitive were killed in new fighting today," a police official said. Tribesmen in the mountain village of Labus regard the presence of troops in the area as a provocation.
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For a map, click here. For a map of Tamaulipas click here. For a map of Nuevo Leon, click here
Units of the Mexican Army fought gun battles with armed suspects in Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon starting last Thursday, killing six armed suspects, while losing one soldier, according to Mexican news reports.
Armed suspects in Miguel Aleman, Tamaulipas Thursday attacked several businesses in the area using small arms and probably 40mm grenades. Damage was limited to a Ford and Nissan dealerships, a gas station and an exotic dancers club. No was reported hurt in the incident.
The unit came under small arms fire from armed suspects travelling aboard four pickup trucks. Responding to army counterfire, the suspect group split in two with one element exiting towards Ciudad Mier.
A total of 11 suspects were detained by the army including one wounded man and a female. A number of munitions were seized as well.
Seized were 20 rifles, two handguns, four 40mm grenades, 307 weapons magazines, 7.693 rounds of ammunition, tactical equipment, communication equipment and four vehicles.
Tamaulipas government officials have been using social internet media such as Twitter and Facebook to update citizens on events in their area. Officials in Reynosa and Matamoros have made especially effective use of social media to ward citizens away from areas known to be fire zones.
That's actually quite clever. I'd wondered why more civilians weren't being caught in the crossfire.
It is unclear by Mexican press accounts whether the Secretaria de Defensa Nacional (SEDENA) actually monitored social media and then dispatched forces to the area, or if they were alerted by a third party.
Military monitoring of domestic websites, specifically forbidden by Mexican law, is an issue said to be under consideration in upcoming changes to Mexican national security policy.
A Mexican Army unit rescued two unidentified individuals and seized a number of munitions Friday near General Bravo, Nuevo Leon. The two people rescued had been in captivity since April 9th when they were travelling to Mexico City from Matamoros, Tamaulipas.
One armed suspect was wounded in the rescue.
The encounter took place a ranch near General Bravo which is astride the Monterrey, Nuevo Leon-Reynosa, Tamaulipas highway at about Kilomter 119.
Seized were five rifles, 109 weapons magazines, 3,050 rounds of ammunition, two vehicles and four cell phones.
Six armed suspects were killed and a number of munitions were seized in a firefight between the suspects and a detachment of the Mexican Army Friday in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas.
Reports say the unit was on patrol on Bulevar Canseco in the Reservas Territorial colony when they were fired on by armed suspects, who were travelling through the area aboard five vehicles.
Six suspects died when soldiers returned fire.
Seized in the aftermath were four rifles, 92 magazines, 2,500 rounds of ammunition and a stolen vehicle.
The main supply route for NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... troops in Afghanistan was temporarily closed on Sunday after thousands of people blocked a key highway in Pakistain to protest against U.S. drone strikes, officials said.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul, however, said the two-day blockade would have no impact on the alliance's operations in Afghanistan.
"Coordination with Pak government officials has been conducted and we understand the government will maintain security," an ISAF front man said. "There is no impact on ISAF sustainment."
The routes through Pakistain bring in 40 percent of supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan, according to the United States Transportation Command. Of the remainder, 40 percent come through Afghanistan's neighbours in the north and 20 percent by air.
The call for blocking the supply line came from cricket-turn-politician Imran Khan ... who isn't your heaviest-duty thinker, maybe not even among the top five... after US officials rejected Pakistain's demand for sharp cuts in drone strikes in its tribal regions where al Qaeda and Talibs are based.
Activists from Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI), Khan's party, and some Islamist parties staged a sit-in on the highway leading to Afghanistan through the Pashtun tribal region of Khyber.
"It is meant to send a message outside that we oppose drone strikes. We will never accept them," Asad Qaiser, PTI president in the northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... province, said.
The supply to Afghanistan through Khyber region had been suspended since the protest started on Saturday, a senior provincial government official, Siraj Ahmed, said.
The Chaman border crossing in the southwest has remained open to traffic, another official said.
The attacks by US pilotless aircraft are a source of concern for the Pak government, which says civilian casualties stoke public anger and bolster support for the Islamist militancy.
But the protests have irked Pak truckers involved in the lucrative business of transporting supplies to the foreign troops in Afghanistan.
"They are politicians. They keep doing such dramas. But we cannot take risk so it is better to keep our trucks off the road for a few days," Mohammad Shakir Afridi, the president of Khyber Transport Association, said.
"We are fed up with this business," he added. "Every second day either trucks are attacked or the supply to Afghanistan is suspended. We say if you (the government) do not want it, cut it off permanently or provide us proper security."
He said his truckers had taken advanced payment for the shipments and if they don't go through, they would have to pay back that money.
"We have been trapped in a quagmire," Afridi said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2011
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[Yemen Post] Taiz Governor Hamoud Khalid Al-Soufi has resigned in protest against invading Taiz University and arresting its president by the elite republican guards.
Informed sources told the News Yemen website that Al-Soufi also requested to fire commander of the elite republican guards in Taiz and referring the officers who stormed the university campus to justice.
On Saturday, commander of the elite republican guards Murad Al-Awbali broke into the office of President of Taiz University and placed in durance vile him along with some professors.
They were released later, and informed sources said the arrests occurred after the governor ordered to suspend teaching amid the escalating protests calling for the ouster of the regime.
On the other hand, the White House welcomed the acceptance of the GCC proposal for power transfer by the Yemeni government and opposition.
Spokesman for the House said in a statement that his country hailed taking the GCC proposal to end the Yemen crisis and for an orderly and peaceful transition of power.
" The U.S. supports a peaceful power transfer in Yemen and urges the political parties to accelerate implementing the proposal terms to meet the aspirations of the Yemeni people," said Jay Carney.
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04/25/2011
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[Al Jazeera] Japan will send nearly 25,000 soldiers backed by boats and aircraft into its disaster zone Monday on an intensive land-and-sea mission to recover the bodies of those killed by last month's earthquake and tsunami, the military said.
Agriculture officials also plan to send a team of veterinarians into the evacuation zone around a stricken nuclear plant to check on hundreds of thousands of abandoned cows, pigs and chickens, many of which are believed to have died of starvation and neglect.
The government is considering euthanising some of the dying animals, officials said.
About 14,300 people have been confirmed dead so far in the catastrophic March 11 tsunami and earthquake. Another 12,000 remain missing and are presumed killed. Some of their bodies were likely swept out to sea, while others were buried under the mass of rubble.
Clean-up crews have already discovered some remains as they removed rotting debris to clear the area for rebuilding.
But the two-day military search operation will be far more extensive, Ippo Maeyama, a spokesperson for the defense ministry, said on Sunday.
"We will do our utmost to recover bodies for bereaved families," he said.
A total of 24,800 soldiers will scour the rubble, backed by 90 helicopters and planes, he said. Another 50 boats, along with 100 navy divers, will search the waters up to 20km off the coast, he said. Police, coasties and US troops will also take part.
"It's been very difficult and challenging to find bodies because the areas hit by tsunami are so widespread," he said. "Many bodies also have been swept away by the tsunami."
The operation will be the third intensive military search for bodies since the disaster last month. With the waters receding, Maeyama hopes the teams will have more success.
The search was complicated by the decomposition of some of the corpses, he said. Some had already turned into skeletons.
"You have to be very careful in touching the bodies because they quickly disintegrate. We cannot tell the bodies' gender anymore, let alone their age," he said.
The searches will continue, however, "as long as families want us to look for their loved ones," Maeyama said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Hubba Hubba Club, Nunzio had his hands full of angry bleached blonde... the government in the Fukushima prefecture will send a team of six veterinarians into the 20km evacuation zone around the radiation-leaking Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant to survey the livestock there.
Farmers in the area were estimated to have left 3,000 cows, 130,000 pigs and 680,000 chickens behind when they hurriedly decamped the area last month when the nuclear crisis started.
With no time for burials, veterinarians who find dead livestock will spray lime over them to prevent them from spreading disease, agricultural officials said.
Officials said they would seek permission from the owners of animals still alive before euthanising them.
"Killing animals is the very last resort," said Yutaka Kashimura, an agricultural official in Fukushima.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2011
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#1
FREEREPUBLIC > JAPAN: WORKERS LOCKED IN BATTLE AT FUKUSHIMA, EXPOSURE TO RADIATION RISING.
Calling all Samurai + Japanese, battle is being joined at Fukushima for the Safety + Future of the Japanese Nation.
[MONGOL INVASION + "DIVINE WINDS" here].
Your Emperor Akihito, however, is not certain on how to fight the SUN + GWCC = UNDERSEA QUAKE ZONES.
#2
RENSE > [Fukushima]JAPANESE SCIENTIST - NO ONE KNOWS WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT |{UPI] HEALTH RISKS NUMEROUS NEAR NUCLEAR PLANT.
* SAME > TEMPERATURE IN #4 SPENT FUEL POOL CONTINUES TO RISE |NHK.jp] RADIOACTIVE WATER [Levels] IN NO.3 AND NO.4 REACTORS RISES, despite injection of new cooling water.
* TOPIX > ANALYSTS: FUKUSHIMA EXPLOSIONS STILL POSSIBLE, as due to on-going TEPCO efforts to rebuild + re-energize the Fukushima plant.
Looks like TEPCO + TOKYO haven't made a final decision on either energizing Reax #5, 6 or Other, nor to permanently close down Fukushima in its entirety???
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2011
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Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Emily Bergl aka Rachel Lang in "The Rage: Carrie 2" aka Sadie in "Chasing Sleep" aka Talia in "Happy Campers" aka Annie O'Donnell in "Men in Trees (TV)" aka Beth Young in "Desperate Housewives" (age 36)
[Al Jazeera] United Nations ...an international organization whose stated aims of facilitating interational security involve making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country... chief the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon has called on Cambodia and Thailand to halt fighting along their disputed jungle border as troops exchanged fire for a third day.
At least 10 soldiers have been killed and thousands of civilians forced to flee the area since fighting broke out on Friday, shattering a tense two-month ceasefire.
Suos Sothea, a Cambodian field commander, said the fighting on Sunday started at about 10:00am local time (0300 GMT) and both sides were firing mortars.
"What we can confirm is it involves artillery shell fire," he said.
A Thai official at the border also confirmed the resumption of hostilities and said "Cambodia opened fire first".
Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, called on the neighbours to "exercise maximum restraint" and urged them to resolve the issue through "serious dialogue" rather than military means, according to a spokesperson on Saturday.
He urged the two neighbours to take immediate measures for an effective and verifiable ceasefire.
Six Cambodian troops and four Thai soldiers have been killed since festivities restarted on Friday.
Thai villagers sheltering in makeshift tents in Prasat district, Surin province, told how they raced from their homes in fear when festivities began in the neighbouring border district of Phanom Dong Rak on Friday.
"When a shell fell next to my house, I knew I had to run away," Somjai Lengtamdee, from Baan Khaotoh village, said.
"I was so worried about my three children. We were separated and it took me all day to locate them all. I can only hope that the war ends soon. I'm so scared," the 37-year-old told the AFP news agency.
Somdee Suebnisai, a local official for Phanom Dong Rak said there were 16 camps in the area providing refuge to more than 18,000 people and the number was expected to rise to 20,000 by Sunday evening.
On the Cambodian side, the National Committee for Disaster Management told AFP that 12,000 people had been evacuated.
Cambodian villager Neb Oeuth and her six children were among those seeking shelter in a pagoda in Samrong, some 40km east of the unrest.
"Many bombs landed nearby my village and we were afraid. I have no idea when we will be able to return," she said.
Heavy shelling was clearly audible 20km away from the scene of the fighting on the Cambodian side, according to a photographer for the AFP news agency, as those evacuated from their homes took refuge in schools and temples away from the clash.
Both countries have accused each other of sparking the violence, which is the first serious outbreak of fighting since February, when 10 people were killed in festivities near the 900-year-old Hindu temple Preah Vihear.
Al Jizz's Wayne Hay reported from Bangkok that it is extremely difficult to determine who fired first.
"Both sides traditionally blame each other for starting the fighting when it erupts on the disputed border," he said.
The latest festivities, which saw several hours of fighting on both Friday and Saturday, have taken place near a different group of temples more than 100km away from Preah Vihear.
Thailand has denied claims by its neighbour that it used "heavy guns loaded with poisonous gas" and flew aircraft "deep into Cambodia's airspace".
The country recently admitted using controversial Dual Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions during the February fighting but insisted it did not classify them as cluster munitions.
"When there is firing into Thailand, we need to fire back to protect over illusory sovereignty," Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on Sunday in his weekly television programme.
He said Thailand was willing to hold bilateral talks and accused Cambodia of trying to "internationalise" the conflict.
Phnom Penh has asked for outside mediation to help end the standoff, but Thailand opposes third-party intervention.
The two countries agreed in late February to allow Indonesian observers in the area near Preah Vihear, but the Thai military has since said they are not welcome and they have yet to be deployed.
Members of the UN Security Council called for a lasting ceasefire after the last outbreak of violence.
Indonesia, which holds the rotating chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations regional bloc, has called for an immediate end to the violence. Vietnam urged "maximum restraint".
Ties between the neighbours have been strained since Preah Vihear -- the most celebrated example of ancient Khmer architecture outside Cambodia's Angkor -- was granted UN World Heritage status in July 2008.
The International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that the temple belonged to Cambodia, but both countries claim ownership of a 4.6 square km surrounding area.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Iran Press TV] Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... must be moved to a military hospital, says the country's Prosecutor General Abdel Magid Mahmoud.
The prosecutor general said on Sunday that Mubarak was supposed to be moved to Cairo's Tora prison hospital but the hospital was not prepared enough, the News Agency that Dare Not be Named reported.
The move came after tests indicated that Mubarak is well enough to travel. However, The contradictory However... Mahmoud says preparations to treat Mubarak in the new hospital will take at least a month as the site is not properly equipped.
On April 12, Mubarak had heart problems during questioning by anti-corruption authorities about charges of graft and abuse of power. He was later hospitalized in an intensive care unit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
The prosecutor general had summoned Mubarak and his sons for questioning over corruption and the use of violence against peaceful protesters, who eventually succeeded in bringing an end to his 30 years of authoritarian rule.
Mubarak was supposed to be in jug for 15 days until the probe about his charges is finished but the judicial authorities have recently extended the detention for another 15 days due to his health problem and the delay in the process.
On April 20, an Egyptian fact-finding commission held Mubarak responsible for the killing of protesters during the eighteen days of demonstrations that led to his downfall.
The fact-finding commission's report stated that 846 people were killed and more than 6,400 others were maimed in the historic revolution.
Egyptian activists say Mubarak must be tried for killing of protesters during the country's popular uprising, which led to his ouster on February 11.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Somali pirates have freed a Greek-owned, Cyprus-flagged ship they seized in January after receiving a ransom payment, pirates and a piracy monitoring group said.
The pirates said they had released MV Eagle, a 52,163 deadweight tonne merchant vessel and its crew of 24 Filipinos seized in January, about 500 miles south west of Oman, while it was en route to India from Jordan. Pirates said they received a $6 million ransom for the ship's release. "We have received our $6 million. The ship has just started to sail away from our zone with a warship," a pirate who only gave his as Kalif, told Rooters on Saturday by phone from the coastal town of El-Dhanane.
The amount could not be verified, but Ecoterra, an advocacy group monitoring piracy in the Indian Ocean, confirmed a ransom was paid. "After having received a hefty ransom for the old bulk carrier, Somali buccaneers released the Greek owned and Cypriot-flagged MV Eagle. Vessel and crew made their way to safe waters," it said in a statement. Two decades of conflict in Somalia have allowed piracy to flourish off the lawless nation's shores.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2011
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Frontline defenses will be beefed up in response to North Korea's mushrooming special forces, with guard outposts near the demilitarized zone strengthened with reinforced concrete and equipped with sniper rifles and sound target tracking devices.
"We're enhancing the combat capabilities of frontline units," Lee Yang-koo, an official at Army Headquarters, said Tuesday. "We're going to deploy sound target tracking devices, unmanned ground monitoring sensors, and sniper rifles at guard posts within the DMZ, general outposts, the Joint Security Area at the truce village of Panmunjom, and the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine office" at the inter-Korean border.
The Army will cover the roofs of guard posts with reinforced concrete and install communications lines there with a budget of about W7 billion (US$1=W1,091) to help combat structures function properly and guarantee operational units can hold out. Guard posts are currently vulnerable to shelling and bombing by North Korea since they are barely more than huts. A military source said some facilities will be reinforced with steel plates so that they can withstand shelling or bombing.
The 300-to-400-strong search and rescue battalion at each frontline Army division will be streamlined and reorganized mainly with elite officers, an Army officer said. Restructuring will begin in 2015 or 2016, and by around 2020, each battalion will be an elite unit with 80 to 90 personnel. New battalions will consist of special warfare troops as well as ordinary army officers with special warfare qualifications.
The plan aims to resolve the numerical inferiority of South Korea's special forces, which number less than 20,000 against North Korea's 200,000. Each battalion will comprise five teams of 12 troops each and given reinforced combat vehicles as well as state-of-the-art weapons so it can carry out operations independently.
The Army also plans to boost combat capabilities by turning some special warfare regiments at frontline corps, special warfare brigades in the rear area, and mobile and military police battalions at divisions, into elite units, a spokesman said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/25/2011
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IMO a WORSE-CASE scenario for the ROK would likely be a SIMULTANEOUS MASS MILSTRIKE by DPRK commandos agz ROK targets, + at the same time DPRK LRBM Missle Strike agz USFK, USFJ targets includ US CVNS.
Don't underestimate Kimmie as per DPRK attack(s) agz Beijing, Russia either.
North Korea has deployed multiple rocket launchers along the shore north of Yeonpyeong, Baeknyeong and Ganghwa islands in response to a planned South Korean artillery drill on Yeonpyeong, government sources here say. The North earlier threatened an "unpredicted self-defense counterattack" to the drills.
A South Korean government source said, "After making the threat in a message sent Friday, North Korea raised the alert level at artillery divisions on the west coast and deployed the multiple rocket launchers." The source added the South Korean military is monitoring the situation.
The North also reportedly made coastal artillery ready to fire and put some fighter jets on the west coast on standby.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/25/2011
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At least 36 people have been killed over the past 24 hours in Misratah after forces loyal to embattled ruler Muammar Qadaffy heavily bombarded the western Libyan city.
Explosions and gunfire were heard on Sunday in the city center and three residential areas, revolutionary forces say.
NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... planes have also been seen flying over the coastal city but there has been no sign of Arclight airstrikes.
This comes after Libya's revolutionary forces said they had gained the upper hand in Misratah after Qadaffy forces retreated.
However, The wishy-washy However... Libya's deputy foreign minister said government troops had not withdrawn from the city, and instead that they had only halted their operations to let local tribes negotiate with revolutionary forces.
Meanwhile, ...back at the fist fight, Jake ducked another roundhouse, then parried with his left, then with his right, finally with his chin... The Libyan National Transition Council says Qadaffy is playing "dirty games" and trying to divide tribes in the besieged troubled region.
"It is a trick, they didn't go," the council's military front man, Colonel Omar Bani, said in Benghazi -- the opposition stronghold.
"They have stayed a bit out of Tripoli Street but they are preparing themselves to attack again."
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[Tolo News] Once again Afghan Senate House has urged Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak to step down. Urging the Defence officials to brief senators on the recent unprecedented attack on defence ministry, some senators said Defence Minister should be tried because of his shortfalls.
Senate House branded the comments made by Defence Ministry Spokesperson Gen. Zaher Azimi about resignation of defence minister as irresponsible.
Senators said Gen. Azimi should apologise for his comments.
A couple of days ago Gen. Azimi acknowledged this call of senators alike the intention of defence ministry attacker.
Defence minister "should not only resign, but he should also be brought to justice," Hafez Abdul Qayum, Afghan senator, said.
"I think we should make a serious decision and we should convince him that he is the one who should be blamed and that he is no longer of use. He should honourably quit his post," Senator Maulawi Faizi said.
Following a string of attacks by Death Eaters' sleeping cells that targeted military institutions, senators are doubtful about the capacities of Afghan cops to maintain peace and ensure security.
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04/25/2011
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[Iran Press TV] Latest reports indicate that Libyan revolutionary fighters have gained victory over regime forces in the besieged western city of Misratah.
The fighters said on Sunday that troops loyal to Libyan ruler Muammar Qadaffy have either been killed or decamped the city.
Reports say the central parts of Misratah are now in the hands of revolutionaries but fighting is still ongoing in southern areas.
Earlier, Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim said regime forces have halted operations in Misratah to give local tribes an opportunity to negotiate with the revolutionaries.
He said Qadaffy forces have not withdrawn from the city. The revolutionaries dismissed his remarks.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Esquimeau village our hero was receiving a quick lesson in aeronautics:... fresh blasts have rocked the Libyan capital, Tripoli, and its outskirts.
State media reported that NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... forces hit several sites in the city center and outlying quarters.
Heavy anti-aircraft and automatic arms fire have been heard in Tripoli.
State media earlier reported that NATO Arclight airstrikes killed or maimed several people in the capital.
Separately, the cities of Khums, Gharyan and Sirt have also been targeted by foreign forces. Saturday marked the first time that the Pentagon used Predator drones in Libya.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2011
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[Iran Press TV] Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has consistently cleaned house in early polls of the New Hampshire Republican primary. Now, a new poll by Dartmouth College shows him handily winning The Granite State in a general election matchup with President Barack B.O. Obama.
In the poll of registered voters, Romney beat Obama 47% to 39%. However, The over-used However... Obama easily led all other comers by between eight and 27 points.
Obama led Mike Huckabee 45%-37%, and topped Ron Paul 47% to 27%. Obama also beat Haley Barbour (42%-23%), Tim Pawlenty (41%-25%), Donald Trump (51%-29%), and Sarah Mama Grizzly Palin ... the babe libs love to hate ... (54%-27%).
Romney has dominated the GOP field in polls of the New Hampshire primary, garnering as much as 40% of the vote in the state scheduled to hold the nation's second primary contest next year. Though he's struggled in more conservative parts of the country, he's always polled well in the Northeastern swing-state.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2011
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#1
We can only hope.
Is there a Democrat out there with enough cajones to save the party by running against Obummble?
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
04/25/2011 10:19
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#2
Kind of like a poll saying that Palin is ahead in Alaska or Guiliani leading in NY.
Romney is next year's Dole / McCain / Please God Help Us Lose candidate.
#4
Since when are conservatives the problem? How about we run one against Obama and see? Seems to me he already beat a milquetoast Republican, so it makes no sense to go that route again.
[An Nahar] Army sappers defused at dawn Sunday explosives placed under the vehicle of a General Security Department inspector near the museum area in Beirut, the National News Agency reported.
NNA said that two hand grenades and a small gas canister with nails and stones inside were placed under the BMW of the inspector, who was only identified by his initials as R.M.
The vehicle was parked at Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... street near the headquarters of the General Security Department.
Police immediately threw a tight security dragnet around the area, NNA said, adding that members of the explosives bureau and army sappers defused the explosives and launched an investigation.
The street was reopened at 2:00 am.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2011
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The North Korean Army has newly moved about 50,000 elite special troops to the frontline near the demilitarized zone.
'Elite' doesn't mean what we in the west usually think it means.
A South Korean government source on Wednesday said, South Korean and U.S. intelligence believe that the North Korean Army completed the move of seven light infantry divisions, which are special warfare units, to the frontline.
Specializing in irregular war tactics?
The deployment took place gradually over two or three years.
Each light infantry division consists of about 7,000 troops, out of a total of 180,000. That means some 27 percent of all special forces are deployed at the frontline.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/25/2011
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#5
...Y'know, I just had an awful thought. What if these 'special forces' are intended to get over the DMZ and just start randomly killing South Koreans without benefit of a declaration of war? The grim fact is that the Norks have already killed a bunch of Southerners, and they've gotten away with it.
"Hey," Kimmie says, "we got no idea who these jokers are, and if anybody says they're one of ours they're outta their freakin' minds, capish? And if you wanna blame us for the acts of some goombahs we have nothing to do with, well, I got some generals and they got some nukes, they might get upset. But now, on the other hand, you help us out with a few things, and maybe I can try talkin' to 'em and see if we can't get this most unpleasant situation stopped, whaddya say?"
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/25/2011 13:26
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The Norks have been one trick ponies for 50 years. Their entire playbook is ratcheting up and down threats of military action. After 60 freaking years of the same tune, the U.S. is still reacting. DUH! If we were credible as a world power we would have long ago told the little jackasses that run that place to heel, and that if they actually did anything naughty we would introduce them to precision, tactical, nukes, while smiling at the Chines from DefCon 1 and waiting for them to blink. But those days are sadly passed I'm afraid.
#7
Had some Marine Corps friends rotate through SK.
They assure me that if you had ever seen a unit of ROK Marines you wouldn't be all that worried about NKOR and their silly-arse bullsh*t.
For a map, click here For a map of Durango, click here
Four men were found shot to death in a remote community in far western Durango, say Mexican news accounts.
A total of 225 spent cartridge casings were also found at the scene.
San Dimas was the area where three weeks ago several homes in another village was torched and an individual was shot to death by presumed elements of organized crime. To read Rantburg's report on the last attack in San Dimas municipality in western Durango, click here.
Western Durango is a known drug growing area. It was also recently reported in Mexican press that the leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel, Joachin Loera Guzman alias El Chapo, maintains a residence in the sierras of western Durango.
[Al Jazeera] More than 500 people were killed in post-election violence last week in the mostly Mohammedan north, a Nigerian human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... group has said on Sunday, warning of further unrest during upcoming state elections.
The Civil Rights Congress (CRC) said that more than 500 people were killed on Monday and Tuesday in three towns alone - Zonkwa, Kafanchan and Zangon Kataf - in the southern part of Kaduna state, one of the worst-hit areas.
Youths launched protests in northern towns and cities after Goodluck Jonathan ... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau... , a Christian from the south, was declared the victor of an presidential April 16 election, defeating Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler and northern Mohammedan.
Observers and many Nigerians say the vote was the most credible in Africa's most populous nation for decades and world leaders have congratulated Jonathan.
But Buhari says the count was rigged and his supporters have refused to accept defeat.
"The victims were encircled, raided and hacked to death and their homes burned," Shehu Sani, the CRC president, said in a report on Sunday based on testimony from the group's members in the communities.
Churches, mosques, homes and shops were set ablaze in the violence, which has left more than 40,000 people displaced.
Although a military-enforced curfew brought the violence under control in major cities after little more than a day, soldiers took longer to deploy to more remote towns.
Sani said the CRC, which is based in Kaduna, confirmed 316 dead in Zonkwa, 147 in Zangon Kataf and 83 in Kafanchan.
"Soldiers did not get there until afterwards," he said.
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[Al Jazeera] At least 55 fighters were killed when south Sudan's army clashed with a rebel group in Jonglei State, a state minister said on Sunday, the latest in a wave of violence across the territory ahead of its independence in July.
Scores of troops and civilians were maimed in the festivities on Saturday, Peter Lam Both, Upper Nile State information minister, said.
The southern army (SPLA) clashed with forces loyal to renegade army commander Gabriel Tang during what was meant to be the reintegration of his forces into south Sudan's army, Both said.
"We understand that on the side of [Tang's forces] 55 were killed including five of his generals," Both told Rooters, adding his information had come from the south Sudan army.
"We don't have reports of those killed from the SPLA and civilian sides but the [overall] corpse count must be much higher," he said.
The minister said Malakal, the state capital, had received 34 maimed SPLA soldiers and 43 civilian injuries.
The festivities happened south of Malakal, just across the border in Jonglei State, Both said.
Historic poll
The oil-producing south voted to separate from the north in a January referendum which had been promised in a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war in Sudan.
Since the historic poll, the region has been beset by violence and insecurity.
The SPLA is at war with at least seven gangs, and traditional tribal festivities have intensified with the onset of the rainy season, according to the UN, which says more than 800 people have been killed this year.
Analysts warn the south risks becoming a failed state and destabilising the region if it cannot control the crisis, with tens of thousands displaced by the various conflicts affecting nine of its ten states, according to UN figures.
In a separate incident in Jonglei, a Sudanese employee of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) was killed on Friday in an ambush by unknown assailants, the WFP said in a statement on Sunday.
In neighbouring Unity State, Peter Gadet, a renegade SPLA officer, this week began a sustained assault against the SPLA, with at least 45 people killed so far, officials said.
A front man for Gadet says the offensive will continue "until victory".
Oil production in the state was disrupted by the violence, according to state officials, who said they first expelled then re-admitted northern Sudanese workers to oil areas, underscoring the threat insecurity poses to the economy. Gideon Gatpan Thoar, Unity State information minister, could not confirm on Sunday whether the workers had yet returned.
About 98 per cent of the south's budget comes from oil revenue, and how it shares its oil with the north after independence remains unresolved. It is currently spilt roughly 50-50 and the only pipelines to export the oil run through the north.
The petroleum ministry could not say how much of the around 500,000 barrels per day of production was affected by the violence.
The southern government accuses the north of sponsoring the gangs fighting the SPLA, an allegation Khartoum denies.
The fighters accuse the government of plotting to stay in power indefinitely, not fairly representing and supporting all tribal groups while neglecting development in rural areas.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2011
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[Iran Press TV] Security sources say a Untied States military base in eastern Iraq has come under a second rocket attack in less than a week.
Three Katyusha rockets hit the Echo Army base near the city of Diwaniyah late on Saturday, Fars News Agency reported on Sunday. The projectiles are reported to have been fired from the southern parts of the city.
American helicopters were dispatched on a search mission soon after the incident. No human or material losses have been reported so far.
Last Sunday, three rockets were similarly fired at the base. The incident was described as the third attack to take place over a week. Iran Press TV boilerplate spittle from this point on:
Militancy rages on in Iraq in the eighth year of the US-led military presence in the violence-wrecked country.
In August 2010 Washington's combat mandate expired but it left 50,000 troops in Iraq for what it called 'advising and training' purposes.
The US military released statements on separate dates earlier in the year, saying its soldiers had died during 'operations' across Iraq in contradiction to Washington's claims that it has wrapped up military action in the country.
The deaths took to 4,450 the number of the American forces killed since 2003, when the US led the invasion of the violence-wrecked country.
Over one million Iraqis have suffered violent deaths as a result of the occupation, according to a study conducted by the prestigious British polling group, Opinion Research Business.
The US is obligated to withdraw the forces by the end of the year in line with a bilateral accord.
US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has, however, pled for extension of the military presence.
The US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen also said recently that Washington would "keep some American troops in the country" at, what he called, Storied Baghdad's request. ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate...
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's office said on Saturday that the US military presence will not be extended.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2011
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#2
WORLD NEWS > INSURGENTS STEP UP ASSASSINATIONS IN IRAQ, + other impolite doings in order to damage the credibility of US,UK-trained Iraq security forces + ultimately the IGA.
[Tolo News] Unidentified gunnies have killed former district chief of Marja in southern Helmand province on Saturday night, local officials said on Sunday.
Haji Zahir Arian, former district chief of Marja and deputy of provincial peace council in Helmand province was killed by some gunnies, Daud Ahmadi, a front man for governor of Helmand told TOLOnews.
Mr Arian was invited for dinner by the head of Helmand's provincial peace council, Najib Popal, when the gunnies broke into Popal's house and shot Arian dead. Mr Popal was not hurt in the incident.
Almost as if that was part of the plan...
The attack happened at 08:00 pm last night in the capital Lashkargah, he added.
Haji Zahir had worked as the chief of Marja district for six months and he was recently appointed as the deputy of provincial peace council in Helmand.
Police officials said they have started investigation about the attack.
No group including the Taliban has grabbed credit for the liquidation.
Insurgents have increased their activities in most villages of Helmand province. Lashkargah is one the seven areas whose security responsibility would be handed over to Afghan forces in July this year.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2011
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Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi ... current Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs since 13 December 2010. Perivous his appointment as Minister of Foreign Affairs, he was Head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran from 16 July 2009 to 23 January 2011. He was also Iranian Representative in the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency from 1997 to 2005... has stressed the importance of vigilance against enemy plots to sow the seeds of discord among the people of the region.
Referring to the current condition of Mohammedan countries in the region, Salehi reiterated the necessity of vigilance against enemy conspiracies to divide Shia and Sunni Mohammedans.
Salehi made the remarks in a meeting with Head of Indonesia's Ulema Council Umar Shihab on Sunday in Tehran, IRNA reported.
Shihab, who is heading a delegation of Indonesian scholars, also stressed the importance of safeguarding unity among Mohammedans.
"Relations between the two Mohammedan countries, Iran and Indonesia, have always been friendly and brotherly," Shihab said.
The head of Indonesia's Ulema Council added that the exchange of scholars between the two countries was another step in strengthening bilateral ties.
Salehi will depart Tehran for Turkmenistan's capital, Ashgabat, later on Sunday.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2011
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[Al Jazeera] A man who tried to hijack a Gay Paree-Rome flight and take it to Libya was overpowered by cabin crew during the flight and tossed in the clink when the plane arrived in the Italian capital, officials said.
Italian media sources said that the attempted hijacking on Sunday was carried out by Valeriy Tolmachev, a 48-year-old adviser to the Kazakh delegation at the Gay Paree-based UN cultural organisation, UNESCO.
A statement from Alitalia airlines said the suspect had assaulted a flight attendant "and asked that the plane be taken to Tripoli".
Other attendants on flight AZ329 then overpowered the suspect, who was "clearly agitated." A doctor on board the flight sedated Tolmachev, and the captain radioed police, who tossed in the clink him when the plane landed, the statement said.
Italian media reports quoting police sources said the suspect was armed with what appeared to be a small knife.
The flight attendant was taken to a first aid station at Rome airport for treatment of minor injuries. No other injuries were reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2011
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#1
What percentage of UNESCO and other UN workers are members in good standing of organizations on the US Terror Watch List?
Posted by: Water Modem ||
04/25/2011 11:01
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[Pak Daily Times] Yemen's protest movement on Sunday insisted on the quick exit of President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, after serving as a lieutenant colonel in the army. He had been part of the conspiracy that bumped off his predecessor, Ibrahim al-Hamdi, in the usual tiresome military coup, and he has maintained power by keeping Yemen's many tribes fighting with each other, rather than uniting to string him up. ... after his ruling party accepted a Gulf plan for him to quit in 30 days in a move hailed by Washington.
The United States had urged a peaceful transition after Saleh's General People's Congress (GPC) party said late Saturday it accepted a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) plan under which he would quit following months of protests.
However, The emphatic However... Saleh himself said any change of regime can only be through "ballot boxes and referendums," and said he could not give into a 'coup'.
"You call on me from the US and Europe to hand over power," Saleh told BBC in an interview. "Who shall I hand it over to. Those who are trying to make a coup? No. We will do it through ballot boxes and referendums."
The opposition Peaceful Change Revolution issued a statement reiterating its rejection of the Gulf plan and demanded that Saleh be prosecuted, contrary to the GCC proposal which calls for immunity.
"The committee... utterly rejects any initiative that would not stipulate the departure of Saleh and his family (from power) and putting him and his staff on trial," it said.
The Gulf plan would see Saleh submit his resignation to parliament 30 days after tasking the opposition with forming a "national accord government" shared equally between the GPC and the opposition.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2011
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#1
See also IRNA/TOPIX > BAHRAINI SHIA CLERIC: WEST INTENDS TO TURN BAHRAIN INTO "ANOTHER PALESTINE", i.e. PA + Gaza-West Bank where local Bahrainis are factionalized + oppressed.
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Iraqs Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has informed the visiting U.S. Chief of Staff of the U.S. Forces, Admiral Mike Mullen, that the remaining American troops were to leave Iraq by the end of 2011, according to the Security Agreement, signed between the two countries in 2011, an Iraqi Legislature said on Sunday.
There is an Agreement, concluded between Iraq and the United States, reiterating that the U.S. forces must leave Iraq by the end of 2011, National Coalition MP, Ali al-Allaq, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, adding that the Prime Minister had informed the U.S. Chief of Staff of the U.S. Armed Forces, Admiral Mike Mullen, that the American forces must leave, according to the said Agreement, because there is no need for their presence, as the Iraqi forces are able to execute the security dossier.
Um, okay, if you say so...
Mike Mullen himself had announced that the Iraqi government had not informed him about the extension of the U.S. troops presence in Iraq, and that the talk about the extension is not necessary, with the presence of the Agreement, Allaq said, adding that all members of the National Coalition refuse the presence of the U.S. troops in Iraq and demand the departure of the last U.S. soldier, according to the said Agreement.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/25/2011
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It would be amusing if we leave, and Maliki takes over as President-for-Life. Not that preventing this would be a reason to stay, of course.
#2
Per AP, Maliki is using live ammo against demonstrators:
Iraqi officials say at least 11 people have been killed and dozens injured in a day of violent clashes across the country between security forces and demonstrators.
At least nine demonstrators were killed in separate clashes in three northern Iraqi cities during what was described as a "Day of Rage." In the western Anbar province at least two people were killed as security forces and demonstrators battled.
Putin was the tip of the iceberg. Bush has shown time and time again that he is a lousy judge of character. Maliki's antics were buried an avalanche of headlines about Egypt, but he appears to be an autocrat like the rest of his Middle Eastern counterparts:
Despite that, tens of thousands of Iraqis turned out for the protests, which began peacefully but degenerated as forces fired water cannons, sound bombs and live bullets to disperse crowds.
The death toll rose to at least 29 Saturday, as officials reported that six more protesters, including a 14-year-old boy, died from bullet wounds. The deaths were recorded in at least eight places, including Fallujah, Mosul and Tikrit.
Ssairi and his colleagues had joined the protests in Baghdad's Tahrir Square, some wrapping themselves in white sheets in a sign of peace. As the sun set, helicopters swooped down into the crowd, signaling the start of the crackdown.
Around 4 p.m., Aldiyar TV manager Fiysal Alyassiry, who had broadcast the demonstrations, reported that security forces had attacked the station, beat a worker, arrested seven people including a director and an anchorman, and closed the station.
It doesn't surprise me that this anti-American autocrat doesn't want us to stick around - it would interfere with his long term career aspirations.
#5
Anyone with a map can see that Iraq covers Iran's left flank, and Afghanistan covers Iran's right flank. Anyone with any understanding of military tactics knows a position like that is a winning combo.
Of course Hussein Osama-Bama is eager to retreat instead of tightening the screws....
"Idiot" Bush set him up with a winning hand but Osama-Bama refuses to play it.
#6
Scooter, the geography looks like the game of Go. At the same time we flank Iran from Iraq and A'stan, our A'stn force is flanked by Iran and P'stan. And our Iraq force is becoming flanked by Iran and the rebellions in Bahrain, Yemen, Jordan & Egypt. Of course P'stan is flanked by our forces in A'stan and India.
Unlike Go, there are more than two sides; China, Russia, and 'One World Government' are watching and working with both sides to help them destroy each other.
#7
ION NEWS KERALA > US LIKELY TO LEAVE 10,000 TROOPS IN IRAQ, as per on-going US, IGA negotiations.
ARTIC = The stay-behind US Mil Elements will help train, advise wid IGA, Armed Forces on Mil Unit training, Medical, Air Sovereignty, + MILTERR INTEL collection.
VERSUS
* DAILY TIMES.PK > AFGHAN POLICE [new Afghan Local Police Units, Org structure]STOKES FEAR OF NEXT-GENERATION MILITIA.
US fears that US-NATO trained, armed ALP could one day turn on it + post-US Withdrawal/WOT Afghan Govt. like many of the local Tribal Militias did after the Soviet pullout.
IMO, IRAQI OR AFGHAN IFF THE US-NATO TRAIN'EM RIGHT + DO RIGHT THEY WON'T; TRAIN'EM WRONG ANDOR ABUSE 'EM THEY WILL.
[Iran Press TV] Thousands of people have taken to the streets across Morocco to call for political reform and demand the King give up some of his powers.
The protests took place in the capital, Rabat, and several other cities including Casablanca on Sunday.
Protesters say that the ruling monarchy must make changes to the way it is running the country.
The protesters want an end to corruption, prison tortures, and unemployment.
Massive rallies have been held since protests began back on February 20.
The king has already announced many reforms in an effort to silence protesters.
The Monarchy is desperate to avoid an Egyptian- or Tunisian-style revolution.
The developments come as popular revolutions continue to sweep US-backed autocratic regimes across the Middle East and North Africa.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2011
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#3
Morocco is one of the most PROGRESSIVE .... UH, PRO-WESTERN mUSLIM COUNTRIES. wiNE IS SERVED IN RESTARAUNTS, i CAN Y
Morocco was one of the most progressive, pro-western countries in the Muslim world. I could drink wine in restaraunts, buy hard liquor (in one supermarket in the capital, Rabat), lots of Europeans go to the beaches in Agadir, and the only place I ever saw a woman remove her bikini top to adjust it was at the Hilton in Rabat.
Half the women in the capital wore traditional garb; most of the younger generation wore jeans.
In 1975.
I, for one, would hate to see it turned upside down.
Posted by: Bobby on the Road ||
04/25/2011 21:08
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#4
Sorry, having some troubles with Mrs. Bobby's laptop.
Posted by: Bobby on the Road ||
04/25/2011 21:12
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#5
oh sure, blame the Sainted Mrs. Bobby,
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/25/2011 22:24
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[An Nahar] A roadside kaboommaimed four people, including two coppers, near a small church in the Iraqi capital on Easter Sunday, medical and security officials said.
The bomb went off near the entrance of the Sacred Heart church, which is surrounded by concrete blast walls, near Tahriart Square in central Storied Baghdad. ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate...
Two passing civilians and two coppers were maimed, an interior ministry official and doctor at Ibn Nafis hospital said.
The church was empty at the time as Easter services were held earlier in the day, the building's security guards said.
Security officers at the site barred news hounds from entering the church, but confirmed the casualty toll.
A pick-up truck belonging to federal police and a civilian saloon car were badly damaged by the blast, an Agence La Belle France Presse news hound said.
Shards of glass were also scattered across the road in front of the church, which was briefly closed off as forensics teams analyzed the scene and the damaged vehicles were towed away.
The number of Iraqi Christians has dwindled from an estimated between 800,000 and 1.2 million prior to the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein to about 400,000 today.
Most of them live in Storied Baghdad, the area surrounding the northern city of djinn-infested Mosul and parts of the autonomous Kurdistan region in the north of Iraq.
In other violence in Iraq, army General Abdul Ghani Mohammed was maimed by a magnetic "sticky bomb" ????(magnetic car bomb?) Some variant of a limpet mine?
attached to a military vehicle in the al-Amriyah neighborhood in the west of the capital, the interior ministry official said.
A roadside kaboom also went kaboom! near the Iranian embassy in the center of the capital, but no casualties were reported.
And in the northern ethnically divided city of Kirkuk, ... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time... an Iraqi army captain was killed by a "sticky bomb" early on Sunday morning, local police said.
The latest violence comes with just months to go before a year-end deadline for the fewer than 50,000 U.S. troops currently in the country to withdraw, under the terms of a bilateral security pact.
Violence has dropped off dramatically across Iraq since its peak in 2006 and 2007, when tens of thousands were killed in nationwide sectarian bloodshed. But attacks remain common, especially in the capital.
A total of 247 people were killed in violence in Iraq in March, according to official figures.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2011
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For a map, click here. For a map of Tamaulipas, click here. Adding news about attacks on businesses in Tampico in southern Tamaulipas early Sunday morning.
Three public buses came under small arms fire in three separate incidents in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas Saturday, according to Mexican news reports.
Three people, two women and a man were wounded in the gunfire. None of the attacks took place on the road that runs through San Fernando, the site of the worst mass murder in modern Mexican history, but all had a starting terminus in Ciudad Victora, Tamaulipas.
Two of the buses were fired on around 0500 hrs in the Hidalgo municipality which is directly adjacent to the border. Both buses were bound for Monterrey, Nuevo Leon.
The third bus was attacked in Linares, Nuevo Leon, about 40 kilometers north of Hidalgo municipality, the location of the other two attacks.
In other news, the Mexican daily Milenio reported that a number of businesses in the southern Tamaulipas port of Tampico were hit with gunfire, and at least one was torched early Sunday morning.
The first of the attacks began at 0345 hrs. when armed suspects fired their weapons into a Soriana department store on Avenida Monterrey, and set it afire.
Four unidentified individuals were wounded in a small arms attack early Sunday morning on Avenida Monterrey.
A convenience store and at least two auto dealerships were damaged from gunfire centered around Avenida Miguel Hidalgo.
Despite the visible presence of Mexican Army units and other security forces following Sunday morning's attacks, about 430,000 people gathered on the beaches for Easter Sunday.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
John 
A Korean container ship 
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
North Korea has deployed multiple rocket launchers along the shore north of Yeonpyeong, Baeknyeong and Ganghwa islands in response to a planned South Korean artillery drill on Yeonpyeong, government sources here say. The North earlier threatened an "unpredicted self-defense counterattack" to the drills. 
Goodluck Jonathan
[An Nahar] A 
